{"id":27294,"date":"2015-05-05T22:32:24","date_gmt":"2015-05-06T02:32:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=27294"},"modified":"2015-05-05T22:32:24","modified_gmt":"2015-05-06T02:32:24","slug":"review-of-the-bears-on-hemlock-mountain-by-alice-dalgleish","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=27294","title":{"rendered":"Review of The Bears on Hemlock Mountain, by Alice Dalgleish"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"bears_on_hemlock_mountain_large\"<\/a>The Bears on Hemlock Mountain<\/em><\/p>\n

by Alice Dalgleish
\nillustrated by Helen Sewell<\/p>\n

Charles Scribner\u2019s Sons, New York, 1952.
\nStarred Review
\nNewbery Honor Book, 1953
\nALA Notable Book<\/p>\n

Today I was shifting Juvenile Fiction books in the D\u2019s and I saw this book, and couldn\u2019t resist checking it out. I took it home and read it, having to say the refrain aloud:<\/p>\n

THERE are<\/em> NO BEARS
\nON HEMLOCK MOUNTAIN,
\nNO BEARS AT ALL.
\nOF COURSE THERE ARE NO BEARS
\nON HEMLOCK MOUNTAIN,
\nNO BEARS, NO BEARS, NO BEARS,
\nNO BEARS AT ALL.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Of course, the main reason I love this book so much is that I remember my mother reading it to me. I remember all the suspense building as Jonathan\u2019s mother and Jonathan say this refrain to themselves, and everyone is thinking about bears. I remember how the crunch, crunch, crunch of the snow changes to drip, drip, drip, which means Spring is coming, and how Jonathan hopes the bears don\u2019t know it. And then how incredibly scary it is when Jonathan hides under the big iron pot and the bears start scraping in the snow around it.<\/p>\n

I also love what I hadn\u2019t remembered \u2013 that this is a story of a great big extended family \u2013 a little bit like the one I have. When my mother read it to me, we still lived near my grandma, who was good at making cookies, as Jonathan\u2019s mother is in the book.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s rather astonishing to me, reading it now, at how well this story holds up 63 years later. About the only thing that couldn\u2019t happen today is that nobody needs to cut wood to keep a fire going for cooking to get done. Oh, and probably Jonathan\u2019s father and uncles wouldn\u2019t come with guns to shoot the bear. <\/p>\n

This is a chapter book \u2013 but a chapter book short enough to read aloud, as I well remember. The suspense is incredible, if child-sized. Bottom line, it\u2019s the story of an eight-year-old who is now big enough to go over a big hill in the snow all by himself to his aunt\u2019s house \u2013 because of course there are no bears on Hemlock Mountain.<\/p>\n

And that story will never grow old.<\/p>\n

Buy from Amazon.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Find this review on Sonderbooks<\/a> at: www.sonderbooks.com\/Childrens_Fiction\/bears_on_hemlock_mountain.html<\/a><\/p>\n

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.<\/p>\n

Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.<\/p>\n

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.<\/p>\n

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